What legally constitutes coercion in adoption?

Question

If you've read some of my other questions recently, you have seen that my adopted son's maternal grandmother is trying to get his birthmother to say she was coerced into the adoption. She's a control freak and an evil person (long story)

My son's birthmom is 24. We have an open adoption and she sees my son every couple months. When she was pregnant, she sought out the adoption agency, she met my husband and I, she chose us, then she asked me to come to her doctor's appointments. She also asked me to be in the room whith her when my son was born. I only got involved as much as she asked me too. She seems very happy with the adoption but it still concerns me that her mom is trying to tell her to say she was coerced. I'm just trying to figure out what constitues coercion. If somebody could tell me, that would be great. She's already terminated her rights.

Answer 1

If his b-mom stands by her decision, then I wouldn't worry, (which i'm sure is impossible) also the bio-gma had a history which would rule her out as a possible guardian. If the b-mom was TRUELY coarsed or even convinced that this was her only option, then could you really live with yourself for heeping the baby from her? If this is what she wants, then her mom should back of.

What does your heart say? Pray about this.

Try not to stress, if this is what she wants, noone could turn it around based on coarsion, It's not like if a woman places

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heres the def..

forcing of somebody to do something: the use of force or threats to make somebody do something against his or her will

Answer 2

A. Psychological Coercion. Purpose: To convince you that you were unfit as a mother and thus had to give your baby to people "more fit' or "more deserving."

Methods used by "Adoption Professionals":

You were told you that you were unfit to be a mother because you were 'unwed'.

You were told that you would be inadequate as a mother.

You were told that keeping your baby would be selfish.

You were forced to draw up a list comparing what you could give to your baby with what adopters could give.

It was stressed to you that your baby "needed a two-parent family."

It was stressed to you that the needs of your baby came before your own needs and that you could not fulfill your baby's needs.

You were told that if you did not surrender your baby, that your baby would be put into foster care until you did sign.

You are told that surrendering your baby is an expression of how much you love your baby (message: if you keep your baby then you don't love your baby).

You are told that adoption is "thinking about what is best for your baby." (message: adoption is best for your baby).

You are told that adoption is "putting your baby's needs first." (i.e., before your own needs. Message: your baby does not need you.)

B. Psychological Coercion. Purpose: To convince you that you have an emotional obligation to surrender your baby.

Methods used by "Adoption Professionals":

You were told to think only of the joy that you'd "give to a couple who could not have children of their own."

You were told that if you changed your mind, you would be disappointing a wonderful mother who was "waiting for her first baby."

You were told that you could not keep your baby as your baby has been promised to someone already.

You were encouraged to have the adopters pay your medical or living expenses such that you felt you "owed" them your baby.

You were encouraged to meet with the adopters and after meeting them felt you could not bear to disappoint them by choosing to keep your baby

You were encouraged to establish a relationship with the adopters, and then "fell in love with" with them prior to surrender.

You were encouraged to have the adopters in the labour or delivery room with you, for the birth of "their" baby, and thus you felt you could not bear to disappoint them by "changing your mind."

C. Psychological Coercion. Purpose: To remove from you all personal support systems and make you reliant on adoption professionals for advice, counselling and emotional support. To distance you from any person who might try to provide alternatives to surrender.

Methods used by "Adoption Professionals":

Your family members or boyfriend were discouraged by adoption professionals from helping you..

Your family members and/or boyfriend were prohibited from seeing you.

You were told that your parents were coercing you by encouraging you to keep your baby, that "they only want to be grandparents."

You were encouraged to distrust anyone who didn't support you surrendering your baby.

D. Psychological Coercion. Purpose: To psychologically and physically distance you from your baby in order to increase the probability that you would surrender. To ensure that surrender of your baby was seen by you a "inevitable."

Methods used by "Adoption Professionals":

Your baby was taken from you at birth by either medical professionals or prospective adopters.

Your access to your baby in the hospital was severely restricted by medical and/or nursing staff.

You were put into a ward other than the maternity ward for recovery, a distance away from your baby.

Your baby was immediately transferred without your consent to a different hospital.

While still pregnant you were labelled a "birthmother," to put you into the mind-set that your only role in the life of your child was to give birth.

You asked for your baby and were told "No!"

You were told that you were not allowed to see your baby unless/until you signed the surrender papers.

You asked for your baby and were told that it was best that you did not see your baby.

You were given general anesthetic for the birth and kept under anesthetic until your baby was removed for adoption.

You were given mind-altering drugs such as scopalamine by medical staff for several days after the birth in order to induce amnesia.

Your signature was obtained while under the influence of mind-altering drugs administered to you by medical staff..

The drug Stilboestrol was administered to you as a lactation suppressant without your consent.

You asked for your baby back and the adopters stalled until the "revocation of consent" period had expired.

E. Psychological Coercion. P urpose: To psychologically traumatize you to decrease the chances of you bonding with your baby.

Financial Coercion. Purpose: To make you feel financially pressured to surrender. Note: young single mothers are often in a financially-vulnerable situation anyway and thus financial coercion is often a major factor.

You are told, or led to believe, that no social assistance was available that would provide you with the financial support necessary to enable you to keep your baby.

You are told near or after the birth that if you change your mind, you would be liable for paying for medical bills or other costs beyond your ability to pay.

The hospital refused to release your baby to you unless you pay them a large sum of money beyond your ability to pay.

G. Fraud. Purpose: To guarantee the surrender of your child.

Methods used by "Adoption Professionals":

Your baby was taken immediately into foster care with no explanation and kept there with the location kept secret from you until the social worker could use "abandonment" as a basis for revoking your parental rights.

You were told at some point that the adoption was "final" and found out later that it wasn't.

You were told that the adoption was "final" and found out later that it wasn't at that point in time.

You were told that there were no other alternatives. (information about social assistance was withheld from you).

You were led to believe that a promise of open adoption was a legally-binding agreement and the adoption later closed.

You were told you would "get over it" and be able to return to your "normal life."

The documents were signed by someone else forging your signature without your knowledge or consent.

You were informed after signing a "pre-birth consent" that it would be held binding in a court-of-law.

Answer 3

Coersion is prompting a decision based on force, threats, or promises of reward.

If the adoption was properly processed, then the birthmom stood before a judge (or judge pro tem) and swore that she was not making this decision based on diress or coersion.

Answer 4

First I want to say that I truly appreciate the difficulty, love and heartbreak that a birthmom goes through when she places her child up for adoption.  It is completely an act of love and faith that her child will be raised up in a way that she cannot provide.

With regard to coercion, the laws haven't always protected the rights of birth mothers very well.  In the past, and perhaps today in certain circumstances, the birth mother is pressured to give up her child "for a better life" without fully exploring the options available as far as support for the birth mom and helping her to parent.  

Once a child is legally adopted out, the birth mom has little legal ground to stand on unless she was coerced.  This is likely why the maternal grandmother is fixating on this line.  

Proving coercion may be difficult, but a judge may open a birthmom's case if she was denied certain rights before the adoption.  These include, right to representation different from that of the adoptive couple (ie, not one lawyer representing both parties), right to hold, feed and spend time with the baby when he/she is born, right to counseling to explore support and parenting options.  If the birth mom's lawyer and counselor encouraged the adoption and failed to explore the birth mom's family's support to let her parent, then this can also be considered coercion.  However, if birthmom talked about this option with her counselor and opted against it, then there was no coercion.  Reputable adoption agencies have a specific list of procedures that are followed before, during and after the birth to ensure that the birth mom is supported in her decision and that she is making that decision freely.

Since adoption laws vary from state to state, I would encourage you to see your attorney.

Good luck to you.

Answer 5

I don't know the legal definition of coersion in adoption.   You might ask a lawyer about your situation.  Any dictionary definition isn't going to quite fit.  Situations in adoption are much more nuanced than actual force, but many people would consider them coersion.

Answer 6

Don't you just love it when people lecture instead of answer the question.

Anyway, here's my two cents:  

Main Entry: co·erce  

Pronunciation: \kō-ˈərs\

Function: transitive verb

Inflected Form(s): co·erced; co·erc·ing

Etymology: Middle English cohercen, from Anglo-French *cohercer Latin coercēre, from co- + arcēre to shut up, enclose — more at ark

Date: 15th century

1 : to restrain or dominate by force <religion in the past has tried to coerce the irreligious — W. R. Inge>

2 : to compel to an act or choice <was coerced into agreeing>

3 : to achieve by force or threat <coerce compliance>